Friday Night Fallout: Scramble Melee

With the main competition within the WWE being for 2nd place to ECW "Raw" took a step back when they announced a twenty minute gimmick match for the World Championship, but "SmackDown" slid back even with them with the announcement of theirs. The lineup for the match looks great, but it also has that funny feeling that it's just another chance for Triple H to bury more than one guy, especially the young ones.

Jeff Hardy, MVP, Shelton Benjamin and The Brian Kendrick all qualified for the WWE Championship scramble. Five men, one match, twenty minutes and the possibility of several title changes, though none will occur, at all.
This wasn't the only thing of interest on "SmackDown" though. The Undertaker made his return to primetime television. They worked a pretty good angle with that which garnered some interest as to where that one goes. Hopefully it'll all go in the right direction.

The ten man battle royal was almost a terrible idea. It was saved with the use of The Brian Kendrick and Vladimir Kozlov. It was one of the worst lineups for a battle royal in the history of wrestling until those two names came down. No offense to anyone else in that match but did you honestly believe that they had a shot to get into a match for the WWE Championship at a PPV no matter how shitty the concept of the match?

Having Kozlov eliminated like that was questionable at best. You have arguably the most believable name in the match eliminated first? That doesn't set it up for a surprise winner, it almost sets it up for a massive letdown. Big Show's interference was a nice move. It didn't do much for anyone, though the way that Kendrick won gets him more over as a heel and puts him in a WWE Championship match at a PPV.

Big Zeke Diesel Jackson Nash plays a great bodyguard. He does remind you of the way that Nash played bodyguard to Shawn Michael's up and coming singles star heel. I doubt seriously that Kendrick will stay in the main event picture past Unforgiven but this is great exposure for a character that can go places. Kendrick won't walk away from Unforgiven as Champ, and I don't think they title will change at all during the match, but I'd pop to see Kendrick hold the gold for a few minutes.

MVP went over Festus to qualify, and Shelton Benjamin went over Finlay to qualify. Jeff Hardy was up against the grain to qualify for the match against the unstoppable (by that I mean immovable and nearly impossible to work with) Great Khali. Now it would be too much to assume that Hardy went over clean. Triple H did that, so nobody else could. What had to happen for Hardy to go over? Triple H had to get involved. The Benjamin/Finlay match as you would imagine was quite good as was MVP and Festus. Finlay and Mike Knox continued their storyline after their match. See what I mean? ECW keeps continuity even on a different show.

Triple H takes every single shot he can to put guys under. Like I said at the top of this article this match is most likely a chance for him to bury young up and coming guys. He buried Cena, he buried Orton, he buried Khali, and on commentary tonight he buried Jeff Hardy. Jeff Hardy is no Triple H. If you're a face, you don't say shit like that. You don't take the John Cena road and overdo the put over but you don't bury everyone else either. Apparently Vince or whoever was screaming in the announcers ears tonight agreed with me, because he changed direction mid-match.

Did anyone else see Triple H's reaction when the crowd went apeshit for Jeff Hardy? Priceless. He did a decent job covering the disdain on his face, but the deep inhale gave it away. The best part outside of "No no, not just any Brian Kendrick, THE Brian Kendrick" was him saying it's almost a guarantee the title will change hands. Take it to the bank Triple H walks out of Unforgiven as not just any WWE Champion, THE WWE Champion.

Who did Kenny Dykstra piss off? I know he pissed lots of people off, but I really want to know who pissed off this bad. He wasn't used on TV at all for quite some time. He's brought back to be Pedigree fodder for Triple H? Really? Life must suck. This is what he was a member of the Spirit Squad. At that time though it was several young guys positioned favorably on the card working mains with vets, but now he's just a nobody getting buried by Triple H. What a difference two years makes. "Good to see you Kenny."

The Undertaker/La Familia angle doesn't appear as though it's over just yet. Though without Edge I find it hard for La Familia to continue. Wasn't it kind of based around him? Undertaker doesn't even have to move. His music hits and the roof comes off the building. He stood in the ring just long enough for it to look like Vickie was going to, well you can see that from the picture above, and clean house on everyone else.

Quick results...
*Maria def. Natalya via DQ
*The Brian Kendrick wins 10 man battle royal
*MVP def. Festus
*Shelton Benjamin def. Finlay
*Jeff Hardy def. Khali

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